Decode My Broken Heart

I stood outside in the freezing rain, a frown adorning my face. My skirt hid my fresh bruises alright, but I tugged at the edges anyhow. The trees I stood under did nothing to stop the rain from making my black T-shirt soaking wet. My hair clung to my head awkwardly, and I tried to brush it back, but it did little to help. I was 17, almost eighteen. The other students in my neighborhood had lined up behind me, shivering and wet. I didn’t notice as the bus came around the corner, I was too busy staring my intent gaze at the ground. My tattered converse had another hole, I noticed as I stared at the ground. But that didn’t matter, since my ‘brothers’ wouldn’t give me any money to buy new ones. The bus slowly rolled to a stop, but I didn’t hesitate as I hopped on. The heat from the bus blasted into my face as I began walking down the ile. I gazed quickly at the seats, and saw an empty one in the middle. A boy’s crude smirk caught my eye. James Black. He was the richest person that went to Dales High School. His father had made our high school and it was named after him. Jacob was a boy that tortured me, ever since I had refused to date him in 10th grade. He sat by one of his minions, who had a mop of brown curls. He was also giving me an evil grin. I hurried past, trying not to be noticed. But I already knew that thought was doomed as soon as it entered my brain. Jacob stuck his foot out at the last moment and – too late I tripped. I slammed my hand down on the seat behind him and just caught myself from falling. I ignored the tears that were trying to surface and sat down quietly in an empty seat. “What a looser.” Jacob said to the boy with the curls, snickering. I did my best to ignore it. Then I did something that I regretted and refrained against doing every day on the bus. I thought about my life. What I could have done to warn them they were going to die. What I could have done to help them. And why I had to live with such jerks now. The people that I was given to... Were different.

At school in my first period I had to stand up and give a presentation I didn’t do. I messed up and made a fool of myself. The girl in front laughed at me. And, ashamed, I turned my light blue gaze to the ground. She snapped her mouth shut as the bell rang. I waited for most of the crowd of students to leave the room before I began shuffling towards it. “Emily, can I talk to you?” I looked over my shoulder to the teacher, and nodded. I bit my lip as I sat down on the chair in front of her desk. “Emily, you haven’t been turning in your assignments. You have an F in this class now…” She was a sweet teacher, Miss Moulton was her name. She was a sub for our English teacher, and she did a good job at it. Though, she had never called on me or for that matter ever talked to me about my grades. Why now? I nervously twiddled my thumbs. “But that’s not what I want to talk about.” By now, most students fears would subside, but being me, mine increased. “Is everything at home okay?” She asked it gently, not trying to scare me I think.
“Yes.” I lied. I said it so soft I was afraid she hadn’t heard me. I wasn’t a big talker any more, not after the accident.
“Sometimes…” She paused, like she wondered if she should continue. I willed her to let me go out that door and to my next class. “Sometimes you come to class with bruises.” She finished. I pulled my skirt down, hiding a big green bruise. It still peaked out of my skirt though.
“I trip a lot.” I replied. She gave a little laugh and smiled. I raised my lips a little, and then it returned to the normal straight line. “Can I go now; I really need to go to my next class…” I trailed off, looking at my watch.
She nodded, and I nearly jumped and ran out of the door. It took all my will to slow to a fast walk. Outside of the door I looked over my shoulder to see a frown on her face. I could tell she wasn’t going to give up on me that easily. As I was looking over my shoulder I slammed into something and fell backwards onto my back.

I cringed in pain and immediately knew that I would have another trophy bruise on my back. “Ouch…” I mumbled. My first thoughts were that I had slammed into a rock, or a door or something. Then I noticed the door or rock had landed on top of me and that’s why I was in so much pain. I opened my eyes. My first reaction was surprise. A huge throng of people surrounded me. Then I noticed the rock on top of me was a boy. His hands were on either side of my face and he gazed down at me. My face became bright red. I actually wondered for a second if he was going to kiss me. He had long black hair that hung in his deep green eyes. They widened a little in surprise as he looked at me… And then I noticed something – fear? His mouth was open a little, and that’s when I noticed it. His humongous canines had sharp edges that looked like fangs. Then suddenly he noticed my surprise, and I was sure he knew I saw his teeth. He jumped up off me and ran. The circle of students opened a crack to let him past. The bell rang and everyone rushed to class. Saved by the bell - how ironic.

Now I was more confused than ever. My current thoughts: He was some sort of freak that escaped from the circus. Second thoughts: I knew I had to find out about him and why he had ran like that.